This invention relates to a massage apparatus capable of providing a massage such as pounding and kneading to a user by means of massage rollers.
A massage apparatus reciprocating massage rollers along a determined direction and massaging the user""s back by means of the massage rollers is known. In this kind of the massage apparatus, a mattress type capable of providing massage to the overall back of the user while the user lies on his or her back, and a chair type capable of providing massage to parts higher than the waist while the user sits down are known.
These massage apparatuses cannot only make the massage rollers run, but also allow them to selectively provide the pounding movement and the kneading movement, in order to enhance the massage effect.
To allow the massage rollers to selectively provide the pounding movement and the kneading movement, the massage apparatus is required to adopt a structure capable of certainly making each movement. That is, the massage apparatus must be constituted to be capable of certainly pounding the user by means of the massage rollers when it is to make the pounding movement, and certainly kneading the user by means of the massage rollers when it is to make the kneading movement.
In a conventional massage apparatus, a pounding shaft and a kneading shaft are provided to allow the massage rollers to selectively provide the pounding movement and the kneading movement. An eccentric shaft portion is provided on the pounding shaft, and proximal end portions of arms are coupled on the eccentric shaft portion so as to be capable of rotating and oscillating.
The massage rollers are rotatably provided on a top side portion of each arm rather than the proximal portion thereof and a slider is further provided on the top side portion so as to freely slide along a determined direction. An eccentric cum body is provided on the kneading shaft and is fitted in a fitting hole formed on the slider.
Thus, when the pounding shaft is rotated, the arm rotates with the proximal portion serving as a fulcrum and the massage rollers can thereby make the pounding movement. By rotating the kneading shaft, the arm oscillates and the massage rollers can thereby make the kneading movement.
To slidably provide the slider on the arm, however, the structure of sequentially stacking and fixing a slider receiver and a cover on one side surface of the arm through a spacer has been adopted in the conventional massage apparatus.
For this reason, the structure of slidably providing the slider on the arm is complicated, the number of parts is increased, much labor is required to the assembly, and thereby the manufacturing costs are increased.
In addition, since the massage rollers are rotatably provided on the arm, the support shaft is attached to the arm and the massage rollers are supported on the support shaft.
For this reason, much labor is not only required for the attachment of the support shaft, but also the support shaft may become loose due to the use in a long term by attaching the support shaft to the arm by means of, for example, a screw or the like.
Moreover, if the slider is simply provided to slide by the slider receiver, the slider becomes loose in accordance with the accuracy in production of the slider or the slider receiver. Therefore, the massage rollers provided on the arm also become loose due to the looseness of the slider and cannot certainly make the pounding movement or the kneading movement.
This invention aims to provide a massage apparatus which can be easily assembled with a small number of components to have a comparatively simple structure and can be manufactured at small costs, and which allows a slider to be slidably provided on an arm.
According to an embodiment of this invention, there is provided a massage apparatus comprising:
a holding body for reciprocating along a predetermined direction;
a first drive shaft having a pair of eccentric shaft portions at a middle portion thereof, and being provided in the holding body while having an axis substantially perpendicular to a running direction of the holding body;
a second drive shaft provided in the holding body while having an axis parallel to the first drive shaft;
a pair of eccentric cum bodies each having an eccentric cum portion which is eccentric to a middle portion of the second drive shaft and which has an axis inclined to the axis of the second drive shaft;
a pair of arms each having a proximal end portion attached to the eccentric shaft portion of the first drive shaft by a bearing so as to freely oscillate;
a pair of main massage rollers provided at two parts on top sides of the respective arms closer than the proximal end portions thereof, so as to freely rotate at a predetermined distance;
a slider held to freely slide along a predetermined direction at a part between the pair of main massage rollers of the arms, and fitted in the eccentric cum portions so as to freely rotate, for sliding relatively to the arms interlocking the eccentric rotation of the eccentric shaft portions of the first drive shaft; and
a drive mechanism provided in the holding body, for selectively rotating any one of the first and second drive shafts, for assigning pounding movement to the main massage rollers in accordance with the eccentric rotation of the eccentric shaft portions by driving the first drive shaft, and for assigning kneading movement to the main massage rollers in accordance with the eccentric rotation of the eccentric cum bodies by driving the second drive shaft,
wherein each of the arms is composed of:
an arm housing having a first opening portion; and
an arm cover having a second opening portion facing the first opening portion, for forming a holding portion bonded to the arm housing to hold the slider to freely slide along a predetermined direction between the bonding surfaces.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.